Dear Forum Members:

It has occured to me that it might be "easy" to make my own crape myrtle "tree", by twisting the trunks of different varieties together, and letting the branches grow out from the top of the trunk, and thus "create" a customized tree, that will produce flowers with differing colors. The main stems/trunks can either be twisted together, or, possibly braided together. I've seen this braiding technique done with Ficus benjamina. The main stems will eventually fuse together into one, fatter, trunk.

For example, taking long, pliable, 5-6 foot whips, of say, "CATAWBA" and twisting these trunks together with the trunks of a different lavender-blue variety. Suppose you have five whips of each. You can twist the trunks of tree-A & B together, and have either ten individual branches coming out from the top of the tree, -(5 of A, and, 5 of B), - or, if desired, you can twist a branch of each color together, and make five branches come out the top of the tree. Then each of the five branches will have two different color flowers blooming from it. You can do this with as many colors as you wish, and will probably look quite nice if the colors do not clash.

This grafting works quite well IF the indivdual stems are tightly bound together so that they cannot move away from one another. The cambium/bark layers eventually fuse, and you can "create" a composite-trunk crape myrtle in a few growing seasons.

I have used this method to make a very fat "trunk" from individual stems of Ilex verticillata - ("WINTER RED") and the stems are now fusing together. I used stainless-steel screws to join all the stems. The stems are now starting to fuse. In a few more seasons, the individual stems will have grown into one, solid, trunk. The "tree" is about 7 feet tall, with branches growing, up and out, from the last 2-1/2 feet. In profile, the tree looks like a tall mushroom, or, umbrella, with a rack of branches that are loaded with a beautiful display of bright red berries, ... that last for many months. Quite a sight!

Has anyone out there used this fuse-grafting technique with crape myrtle? I believe it is also called "approach-grafting","pleaching", or, "inarch-grafting". By the way, it is a grafting technique that is used for growing/making fat trunks for bonsai. You can "create" fat-trunked, "old-looking" trees in a few years.

Please let me know what you think of this idea, and, your growing experiences. Thanks, ... Frank DV